Joint Commission Issues Alert on Medical Device Alarm Fatigue

The Joint Commission on April 8 issued a Sentinel Event Alert to hospitals, imploring leaders to take a focused look at the serious risk caused by “alarm fatigue” from medical devices.

“These alarm-equipped devices are essential to providing safe care to patients in many health care settings; clinicians depend on these devices for information they need to deliver appropriate care and to guide treatment decisions,” according to the Joint Commission message. “However, these devices present a multitude of challenges and opportunities for health care organizations when their alarms create similar sounds, when their default settings are not changed, and when there is a failure to respond to their alarm signals.”